


Post-Punk

by Garish_Flower



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Multi, Possibly Unrequited Love, Slow Burn, Suggestive Themes, Swearing, pinning, plus size character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 02:45:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17378111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Garish_Flower/pseuds/Garish_Flower
Summary: Katherine’s senior year of high school is tough, but adding a meddling brother, an alternate universe, an unrequited crush, and the new asshole in town; her life couldn’t get much worse. Could it?





	Post-Punk

The halls of Hawkins high bustled, it was Kitty Henderson’s last first day of high school. She walked down the halls with a somewhat false sense of confidence that this year would be better than the last 3 she felt as though she wasted her life going through. She turned to see a familiar face, her locker neighbor and close friend Steve Harrington “Happy senior year.” Steve said grinning.

Kitty smiled, “Happy senior year, Steve.” She said while throwing her back pack into her locker and pulling out the books she needed for the next few periods “What class do you have first?”

Steve looked at the piece of paper in his hand “English,”

“Don’t sound too disappointed, we have it together.” She said smiling, her subtle and friendly flirting was the only way to cope with the disgustingly huge crush she had hidden from him.

Steve grinned at her “No shit!” He said, “We’ll that’s one reason to be happy that we’re stuck here for another, what 9 months?”

“Already starting the count down?” Nancy said walking up to the two, Steve leaned down for a quick kiss.

Kitty gave a closed mouth smile “Yeah, I suppose so.” She said with a fake sense of cheerfulness. Everything she did with Nancy was fake, deep down inside she was envious of their relationship and low key suspicious of her supposed ‘friendship’ with Johnathan Byers.

Their conversation ended when the period bell rang signaling they had 5 minutes to get into class or else they would be tardy “Shit,” Steve said, quickly gathering his things “I’ll catch you at lunch Nance” He said leaning down for one more kiss and walking off with Kitty.

The remainder of the first half of the day went seemingly uneventful.  However, you could never tell with the dark secrets that were hidden within Hawkins.

Kitty’s brother Dustin had surprised everyone when he showed up one night with a group of well-dressed men accompanied by those dressed in hazmat suite “Jesus Dustin, what the hell did you get yourself into now?” Kitty said answering the door. She thought it had something to do with Will’s disappearance and sudden resurfacing after he was buried, and she was right.

“Katherine, who’s at the door?” their mother called from the kitchen.

The people from the lab in town were there to inform them that what they had been involved with, well more specifically Dustin had been involved with, was top secret and was to be discussed by no one or else the consequences were dire. The only reason they came to their house was because they believed Dustin may have been hiding El.

She’d met the girl previously, sure she was weird and had telekinetic powers, but Kitty saw her as misunderstood rather than a national threat.

Kitty sat back in the recliner “Well, if you didn’t experiment on people against their will, you wouldn’t be having this problem, now would you?” She said to the well-dressed man talking with her family.

Her mother pursed her lips “You watch your mouth Katherine.” Her voice was uncharacteristically stern, meaning she meant business.

The memory danced around in her brain as though it happened yesterday and before Kitty could realize it, the last first day of classes was over and she was out the door as quick as possible with her Walkman playing Unknown Pleasures loudly in her ears. A sharp tug to the wire on her headphones got her attention as she walked down the sidewalk in front of the school. She turned around and saw her brother “That hurt you little shit.” She said grinning and wrapping her arm around her brother’s shoulders and ruffling his hair “How was it?”

Dustin frowned “Boring,” He said trailing off.

“Well… boring can be good.” She answered, with how… exciting the last year had been she didn’t know if their mother’s heart could handle more secret agent men poking around the house because of Dustin’s shenanigans. 

Dustin nudged her sided “Not getting a ride home from King Steve…” He said wiggling his eyebrows and laughing.

His actions were cut short by a sharp shove “Oh shut up.” Kitty said, “Don’t you have somewhere to be with your friends?” God, she was going to kill her brother if anyone heard that.

“Yeah, I’m just waiting for them, Mike is trying to convince Ms. Wheeler to let Will come to the arcade.”

“Oh, so you came all this way just to harass me?”

Dustin simple shrugged his shoulders “Yeah, I guess so.”

Kitty rolled her eyes “Jesus, go back to them, work some of that Henderson charm you think you have so much of.” She said smiling

Dustin grinned, showing off his new teeth “I mean with these babies anything is possible.” He rolled his tongue.

“Oh jesus,” Kitty said and shook her head trying to hold in her laughter “Go, I’ll get home fine.” Once her brother was out of her sight, she adjusted her headphones and restarted her tape and continued her march home.

Was Dustin right for teasing her about her little crush about Steve? Yes, it was true and not something she had really ever talked about. But the hopeless look in her eye every time she saw Nancy and Steve together was not overlooked by her surprisingly observant brother.

\---

Soon the warm turned crisp in the characteristically cool autumn that Indiana brought and together Kitty and Dustin worked on his costume, he was going to be a Ghostbuster with the rest of the boys.

It was adorable, right?

She had hoped that all of this time and scrounging with the rest of the boys through various dumpsters and junkyards for the perfect parts would be worth it. But, she wouldn’t know until tomorrow morning because Dustin insisted on finishing the rest of it himself. So, Kitty walked to school. It wasn’t a terribly far walk, maybe around 5 blocks from the school itself. She always managed to run into Dustin harassing her to “hurry her ass up” but it was all in good fun.

She enjoyed the walk, it was the perfect length for her tape, she could listen to side A on the way to school and side B when she walked home. At this moment music was her only solace against her terrible pinning over Steve. So, she walked, humming along with the synthwave beats that met her eardrums. She rubbed the straps on her backpack and looked to her side, a blue Camaro slowed down next to her and the driver rolled down the crank window “What’s a pretty thing like you doing walking by yourself.”

 Kitty scrunched her nose up “How about you mind your business.” She snapped turning her head to get a really good look at the driver. He had a handsome face, an unfortunate mullet and an ego that she was surprised didn’t weight down the car and cause sparks to fly from the metal grinding on pavement. Needless to say, men like him never went for girls like her so responding defensively was the only way she knew how.

Most of the time when people harassed her on the street it was to cat call her and say other lewd things, mostly about her weight, “Oh, you got a little bite to you, I’ll remember that.” He said and winked at her before turning up his music and speeding off.

“I hope not!” Kitty shouted after the car.

That moment had soured her mood; she got to her locker and threw her backpack in and pushed past the bodies in her way “Woah, Kit what’s got you in such a funk?”

Kitty turned to see Steve gripping her shoulder, immediately her face softened “I don’t know, it’s not important.”

Steve smiled at her “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with a frown that big on your face. Come on, what happened?”

HA, jokes on him.

She returned his smile, trying to make it seen genuine “Just some dick yelling at me while walking to class.” She shrugged it off like it was nothing.

Steve scrunched his face “Ah, what have I told you Kit, you can ask me for a ride to school whenever. I hate knowing you walk by yourself.” Her face flushed at his comments, he cared but not in the way she wanted “You know a kid went missing last year.” He said with a half-smile.

Kitty grinned and tried to hold back her laugh “Yeah, I know, but I’ll be fine I promise.” She inhaled deeply and huffed “Plus, I like walking; I don’t want to listen to your trash music.” She said and used her shoulder to playfully nudge him.

Steve mocked his hurt feelings and put a hand against his chest “Kitty, I’m shocked at your words.”

The two of the laughed in good fun as they began to walk to English class together; she remained a few paces behind due to his long legs and watched his slouched socks and battered shoes make their way through the hallway and to the classroom.

\---

Given what Kitty had told Steve earlier; he insisted on driving her home when he was finished with basketball practice. So, she waited around in the library doing homework; her backpack was thrown on the table and papers, tapes, and notebooks spilled out on the desk. Her face was buried within her history book as she tried to copy down the outline her teacher wanted later that week, Halloween of all days.

A hand came and swiped several of her tapes from the table and Kitty’s head shot up “Hey, give me those back.” She said furrowing her brows and pausing her Walkman.

Oh, great it was him again, the jerk from earlier.

He hummed, nodding his head and looking through them “I never pegged you for a post-punk kind of a girl.” He said sliding them back across the table.

Kitty quickly caught them as they slid into her palm softly “There is a lot you don’t know about me.” She huffed looking back down at her book and pushing her circle rimmed glasses back up her nose as they slid down.

“How about we start with your name?” Geez, losing this guy wasn’t going to be an easy feat.

Kitty gave a closed mouth smile, she had shit she needed to do that obviously wasn’t going to get done at home “Katherine.” She said.

“Hmm, you don’t look like a Katherine, what do you go by.” He tapped his finger on his chin mocking his lack of thought “Kate? No, Kitty?” He asked. Her flushed face and ignoring made it obvious “Oh, Kitty huh? I bet I could make you purr like one,” He said sitting on the table and licking his lips.

He really was trying too hard for something he wasn’t going to get “Don’t flatter yourself, hun.” She said glancing at the clock and began to stuff her things into her back pack.

Billy didn’t know much about her, but she had a bite and he liked it.

The ride home with Steve was nice, he let her pick the music, A Flock of Seagulls and the entire way home they loudly sang Rainfall. It was a nice distraction from the guy that had been bothering her throughout the day.

When they pulled up to the front of her house, they lingered in a comfortable silence before Kitty unbuckled “I’ll see you tomorrow Steve.”

“Wait,” Steve said grabbing her arm “Here.” He said handing her an orange flyer to Tina’s Halloween party.

Kitty let out a soft laugh “I’m not going to this.” She said shaking her head

“Come on, you can’t spend Halloween alone, Kit.” Steve said pushing the flyer closer into her hands, “Plus, I’ll be there.” He flashed her an award-winning grin.

Kitty sighed, “Fine.” She said, “But if they are playing lame music I’m leaving.”

“I mean look who is throwing it would you expect them to play anything good?” Steve joked.

Nodding her head, Kitty opened the car door “Yeah, you’re right. I’ll see you tomorrow, thank you for the ride again.”

When she entered the door to her room she saw Dustin out of the corner of her eye practically destroying his room “What the hell are you looking for?” She asked throwing her backpack in her room and closing the door.

Dustin groaned “I need money for the arcade.” He whined

Kitty rolled her eyes “That place is going to make us go broke Dustin.” She called after him as he walked to presumably search the couch cushions.


End file.
